Such a discussion must be in two parts, to every one who highlights it is being wasted, stolen, deliberately misused I agree, new laws need to be in place to bring offenders to an international court for all of the above, no matter who they are,Aid however in my view is in the interests of the developed world,not just for humanitarian reasons but the self interest of donor nations,a developed third world can become a trading partner,and while we see about a million refugees now, without aid for the starving nations that number could be in the tens of millions, John Howard used aid to Indonesia to fund schools to educate the young about how wrong faith based teaching of hate is, surely that was aid in our best interests?

Belly,

While Australia, under Howard and other misguided PMs, was pouring aid into Indonesia, that country was building warships etc., and enacting a genocidal policy in West Papua, Australia was in effect subsidising terrorism.

Our total aid budget is relatively small, $3.8 billion 2016/17 from a peak in dollar terms of $5.1 billion 2012/13. As a percentage of national income aid is running at about 0.22%, well down from a peak of 0.50% in the 1960's and early 70's. We have gotten rather stingy with our money over the years. The UN agreed target for foreign aid from countries such as Australia is 0.70%.
Aid from Australia has very much an umbrella effect, stretching from Afghanistan, across South East Asia, and well out into the Pacific. Both the receiver and Australia receive benefit from aid. The receiver gets the humanitarian improvements in the quality of life of its people, and in return we get strategic influence and stability in our region.

The biggest recipient of Australian aid is PNG at $546 million, then Indonesia at $357 million. I am interested in Australia's aid programme, particularly in the Pacific, where I believe we could do a lot more. In Fiji Australian aid is presently at around $58 million and being well spent. The focuses is on the disadvantaged and marginalised particularly the rural poor, women and people living with disabilities, whose poverty levels are very high. Rural housing is often substandard. Children's literacy and numeracy skills are declining, the country really has very limited economic opportunities, while the overall life expectancy of the people is not improving. Foreign aid only accounts for about 2.5% of Fiji's gross income. In my opinion aid in the Pacific region is far to low.

Aid, some will always find it reason to get very upset others me hopefully will want it always for humanity's sake, can we see the depth and breadth of why we have aid? China, right now, as has America Russia and just about every country that can afford it, is buying influence in the Pacific, with its aid, America rebuilt Europe, twice, after both world wars, with aid, both the Colombo plan and the Marshal one, did great things.is it in humanity's best interests to just let mass starvation take place?truly? if we who can afford to do not help how will we handle a future with millions of refugees? aid in my view apart from being the right and only thing to do,,, is in our self interests

Hi Belly, small things we take for granted can make a world of difference. To give you an example, a Highland village in Fiji, yes Fiji has highlands, didn't have running water. Only had unreliable tank water, or water brought down by hand from a spring about 1km further up. With aid, a 3" steel pipe, supplying gravity fed clean water has been laid from up top to the village. That has made a world of difference to about 200 people. At around $4000 its money they would never ever have had to spend.

Now they need a truck.

Now they need a truck.
Paul1405,
yes & then they'll need air conditioning & then power stations followed by football stadiums followed by ..... until their society is as mad as ours. Then, with all that additional weight on their islands, the islands willstart to sink & then the bleating will start in earnest about rising sea levels. And then ............

I have always maintained that foreign aid must be goods & tools made in Australia, not loads of money to a handful. Shovels & wheelbarrows build roads & channels, money only buys a new Mercedes or two.